


Jack to the Future

by aurora_australis



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, MFMM Flashfic Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22405942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurora_australis/pseuds/aurora_australis
Summary: Phryne Fisher is a woman out of time. Literally.A time traveler AU for the FlashFic challenge!
Relationships: Phryne Fisher/Jack Robinson
Comments: 39
Kudos: 127
Collections: Miss Fisher's Flashfic Challenge Heat 2





	Jack to the Future

“Why?”

Well. She hadn’t been expecting that question. ‘How’, certainly. Even ‘where’. But _why_? Maybe this one was slightly more intelligent than the average 20th century man. 

Not that that was saying a lot. 

Phryne crossed one leg over the other and leaned back as far as she could in the uncomfortable wooden chair. “I can’t tell you that.”

The man across from her blinked once, but otherwise did not react.

“You can,” he insisted firmly. “You’re choosing not to.”

“No,” she insisted. “I really can’t. It could change the course of history.”

The man sighed, a sound Phryne found oddly endearing. “Right,” he said. “Because you’re a time traveler.”

“Yes.”

“From the future.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you risk changing the course of history by telling me that?”

“It seemed the most expedient way of clearing all this up.”

“Clearing all this… I don’t think you realize how much trouble you’re in right now. Miss Fisher, you — ”

“Phryne, please. You people are all so formal before you invent the bikini.”

The man raised an eyebrow at her and continued. “Miss Fisher, you were discovered breaking and entering the home of one of Victoria’s most prominent businessmen. And, quite frankly, you’re lucky the police arrived before his private security. Otherwise you’d be far from the law right now, not having a nice chat in my interrogation room.”

“And doesn’t that just strike you as odd.”

“Miss Fisher…”

“Also, I didn’t break anything. If anything I… apparated and entered. And good luck charging me with that in 1928.”

The man ran a hand over his face in frustration, then glanced down at his little notebook, which from Phryne’s vantage point looked to be quite full of some seriously atrocious penmanship making it impossible to surreptitiously read from across the table.

She really missed datapads.

“Alright, you… _appeared_ in Mr Warwick’s private offices. No breaking involved. What was your purpose in doing so?”

Phryne leaned forward placing both hands on the table. “Look, Inspector Robertson — ”

“Robinson.”

“Right. It’s pretty clear you don’t believe I’m a time traveler, so I don’t see what telling you the details of my mission will accomplish.”

“Indulge me.”

“Make it worth my while,” she challenged, and was pleased to see a little quirk at the corner of his lips indicating some amusement.

“Fine. Tell me the details of your… mission and I’ll pull some strings with Warwick to see if we can’t reduce the charges.” The little quirk quirked again. “I’ll just explain you’re a mad woman who thinks she’s from the future.”

Phryne glared at him for a moment, then took a deep breath and shrugged. “Fine. I’m on what you might call a humanitarian mission. I’m here to save people.”

“From what?”

“From you.”

That did get a reaction out of him.

“Me?” he asked in visible surprise.

“Not you specifically,” she clarified. “But men like you. Men in authority, who will plunge this world into a war so great the wounds of it won’t heal for generations.”

At that the man looked… sad. Something else she hadn’t been expecting.

Really this Robinson was full of surprises.

“I’m afraid you’re about a decade too late,” he said quietly. “The Great War ended in 1918.”

“The first great war,” she corrected. “And I am sorry to be the one to tell you that, but it’s true.” Phryne watched the other man closely. “That doesn’t surprise you.”

He shrugged. “Not everyone learns their lesson the first time.”

“That’s a cynical way of thinking.”

“Says the woman talking about generational wounds.”

“Touché.”

Robinson absently tapped his finger on the notepad. “You said you’re here to save people. So, what, you plan to stop this coming war?”

“No,” Phryne admitted. “That I can’t do. I assume you’re familiar with the concept of a temporal paradox?”

He nodded. “You can’t change the past or the future that created the conditions to allow that change won’t exist.”

“Exactly. What I do… it’s an experiment.” She chuckled. “I’m Variable # 11.”

“Sorry?”

Phryne smiled. “It’s what she calls us. My boss. As a joke. You see there’s a woman in my time, Dr MacMillan, and she theorizes that if you can remove someone from their timeline at the _exact moment_ of their supposed death, there’s no temporal paradox.”

“Remove them to where?”

“The future. My time. So they can live out the rest of their lives in peace.”

Robinson tilted his head slightly to the left. “How do you know the exact moment of their supposed death?”

“Historical records. But I have to find the people first. Which is why I was at Warwick’s. I needed some of his employee records.”

“What do you do when you find them?”

“I place a temporal tag on them. I can do it anytime before the pre-scheduled moment and then when that comes, Dr Mac pulls them forward. No paradoxes.”

“You’ve done this before?”

“Not me, personally. This is my first assignment. And technically this is the fourth? fifth? phase of the experiment. Dr Mac has been working on this for almost two decades. But it _does_ work. I’ve met some of the people we’ve saved.”

“We?”

“Other travelers. Like me.”

“There are other travelers?”

“There were.” Phryne looked down. “Something went wrong... they were lost.”

Robinson appeared impressed… and another emotion she couldn’t easily identify. “And yet you still signed up? Knowing that?”

Phryne raised her head sharply and looked him square in the eye. “I know what it means for someone to be taken too early, Inspector Robinson. If I can save two of them in exchange for my life, the scale is already balanced in our favor. And I have almost a decade before this next war begins - you just sit back and watch how many I save.”

Robinson leaned back in his chair, folded his hands across his chest and for a moment looked at her so intently she felt it physically.

“Miss Fisher, I have absolutely no doubts that given enough time you might save the entire world. And I wish you the very best of luck with your assignment. I might even offer to help, if I thought you’d let me.”

“I’d let you,” she said, surprising herself this time.

“Good,” he said. “Good.” Robinson closed his notebook and leaned across the table to release her handcuffs. “If I were you, though, I’d start living in the present all the same — you might not ever make it back to the future.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked, flexing her newly freed hands.

“Because I was sent back in 1914,” he said, holding out his hand to shake hers. “I'm Variable #2, and it's very nice to meet you, Phryne.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to whopooh and olderbynow for organizing one of my favorite fic traditions! ❤️


End file.
